Even the astronauts of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) based on the International Space Station (ISS) are fans of the Super Bowl so on the day of the National Football League’s biggest stage on February 5, one astronaut marked it in style.
He threw an American football down the length of the ISS and it reached 564,644 yards in zero gravity, reports MSN News.
The distance is actually over 4,705 times the length of a football field so it was a sort of a record, to say the least.
But then, the astronaut threw the ball in zero gravity and they were about to watch the Super Bowl 51 from 250 miles above the Earth, so it technically does not count.
The astronaut made the throw as he and his colleagues at the ISS were preparing to watch Super Bowl 51 on February 5 pitting the Atlanta Falcons and the New England Patriots at the NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas.
It is apparently one of the things that NASA astronauts do while they while away their time on the ISS and the space administration was game enough to also show a video of the ‘throwing incident’ which has now become viral online, notes BBC.
It was almost sure that the astronauts at the ISS also witnessed how the New England Patriots came from 21 points down in the first half of the Super Bowl 51 to defeat the Atlanta Falcons 34-28 on course to their fifth Super Bowl.
How astronauts while away their time in space
In addition to watching the Super Bowl, which only happens once a year, astronauts actually while away their time in space doing some special things in an unorthodox manner since the gravity is always factored in on everything.
In a report of BBC, it once featured Italy’s first female astronaut in Samantha Cristoferetti and how she spent almost six months of her time on the International Space Station almost three years ago.
The European Space Agency astronaut arrived at the orbiting space lab in November of 2014 along with two crewmates from Russia and the US.
It was not clear to many what exactly will she be doing during her time in space then. But it was soon found out that she will be doing some scientific experiments on the ISS.
The ISS gives the chance to do scientific experiments that cannot be done on Earth, as the station offers an environment of microgravity.
Her accomplishments in space
Some of the things that the first female astronaut was able to do at the ISS include an electromagnetic levitator, testing technology, as well as medical research.
Samantha Cristoferetti operated a gadget called an electromagnetic levitator, which can heat metals to 2,000°C and then cool them very quickly.
It was a chance for Samantha to see what happens to different metals when they go from liquid to solid, without the effect of the Earth’s gravity.
At that time, it was highly hoped that the results will reveal more about the physics of the metals and how they work, which seems to be clearly defined now as a result.
Part of the scientific experiment in the ISS includes a new kind of testing technology for use in various industries.
When the first female astronaut went into the ISS, she also tested a new machine technology and how well they work in space, such as the astronaut joystick. Using a joystick in space feels very different in space compared to using one on Earth.
The experiments showed how being in space affects how well an astronaut can control a space robot or space machinery.